Out of the Shell
by thatcrazyfangirloverthere
Summary: When one of Donnie's machines goes berserk, it transports the turtles to a different dimension and turns them into humans. They seek help from a teenage girl named Avery, who refuses to believe their story, because how could cartoon characters be real? The turtles must find a way back, but before they can, a villain they thought long gone rises up in Avery's world.


**Hey guys! This was an idea I had for a long time, and I was juggling between two different versions I had planned for this story, and I eventually ended up writing this one. It was kinda hard getting it started, but I have a lot planned for this story! So, stick with me and I promise it's going to get better. And don't worry, there isn't any romance between my character and the turtles. So I hope you enjoy my story and please read and review! I'd love to hear your opinions on it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT or any characters affiliated. I only own my characters and the words I have wrote. **

* * *

The life of a hero is expected to always be exciting and full of adventure, is it not? Well, things change for a hero once they have overcome their enemy. Whether they embark on another adventure or not, things change. At first, not having to deal with any thing is great. You get to kick back and relax. Nothing stops you from stuffing your face with pizza, and most importantly, you don't have to worry about losing the battle. And yes, that all sounds amazing. However, with no adventures to go on, things get boring. You may be saying, "hey, just travel the world, spend time out of the house," or something along those lines. While all of those are ways to cure boredom, it's hard to do any of that when you're a giant mutant ninja turtle. Months had passed since the fall of the Shredder. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo had been fighting the villain for almost four years. The time for the final battle came upon them, and there no rest for the brothers. They fought long and hard, and surely enough, they finally defeated the Shredder. The victory of the Hamato brothers did not go uncelebrated. The four turtles currently live in peace with their father and sensei, Master Splinter. The turtles still go on their night patrols and train in the art of the ninja, but rarely anything happens anymore.

"I kinda miss the action. I mean, beating up bad guys was kinda fun, you have to admit!" Mikey would claim. Leo, Raph and Donnie actually agreed with him on that.

Today was no different than the past couple days. Or, it started off no differently. Donnie was working on a machine, Mikey was watching TV, Leo was most likely meditating, and Raph had just woken up. Splinter had gone out recently to get some supplies with the help of their human friends, April O'Neil and Casey Jones.

"Look out Donnie! It's alive!" Mikey shrieked playfully as the red clad turtle entered the room.

"Har har, very funny, shell for brains…" Raph grumbled as he walked towards the kitchen, smacking Mikey upside the head along the way.

"Ow!" the younger brother placed a hand on his head.

"Can you two keep it down? I am trying to work on something over here," Donnie turned around, shooting a glare at his brothers. Raph shrugged as he proceeded to grab a slice of pizza from the fridge. Mikey went back to watching his show, but shut it off shortly to go and watch his "geeky" brother work on the machine, sitting down in the swivel chair next to him.

"What's it supposed to do?" his blue eyes widened at the strange contraption. It was circular in shape and took up a good portion of Donnie's desk.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. Now I'd appreciate it if you didn't hover over me while I work," Donatello stated flatly. Mikey huffed as he pushed himself, and the chair, away from Donnie and the strange invention. The orange clad turtle looked around the room, and a wicked grin came across his face as Raph sat down to eat. He gave Mikey a glare before starting to eat."Hey, Raph," the youngest turtle sat down across from Raph, who just shot him another look.

"What the shell do you want?" Raphael growled. Mikey grinned at him as his eyes glanced down at the pizza for a second. The turtle in red must have caught the small gesture, because he put

his arm in front of the plate proprotectively, "Don't even think MIKEY!"

"YOU SNOOZE YOU LOOSE, SUCKER!" Michelangelo taunted as he grabbed the slice of pizza and took off with it. Raph leapt up from his chair and jumped over the table in order to chase after his little brother.

"MIKEY GIVE ME MY BREAKFAST BACK!" the said turtle hopped on top of the couch, ready to take a bite of the food he practically worshiped.

"It's actually eight in the evening " Donnie started, irritation clear in his voice.

"No one cares, Donatello!" Mikey took a rather large bite of the pizza and dodged Raph, who lunged at him. The move did nothing as Raph tackled him from behind. Mikey let out a scream of terror as his brother put him into a headlock.

"Michelangelo, Raphael, what is going on?!" the leader in blue emerged from the dojo, practically shouting at his siblings.

"Dude, get off of me!" Mikey gasped for air, as Raph was not only crushing him, but choking him as well.

"Give me back my food!" Raph hissed, making the headlock tighter.

"Seriously? All this fighting over food?" Leo rolled his eyes as he watched Mikey hold the pizza out of Raph's reach.

"I'm going to my room to work on this, where I won't have to bother with you two idiots," the purple clad turtle grumbled to himself as he proceeded to gather up his supplies.

"I... said... get... OFF!" Mikey finally broke free of Raphael's grasp, by sending and elbow to his stomach. Seeing this as his chance, Mikey gobbled up the rest of the pizza. Raph let out a battle cry as the chase began again. Leo placed his hand on his forehead and shook his head. Donnie was ready to move up to his room, when Mikey accidentally ran into him, causing the turtle, and the machine, to fall.

"Oh shell!" Donnie exclaimed as the contraption collided rather hard with the floor. His gadgets and tools came down on it, the sharper ones lodging themselves deep into the machine. Mikey stopped running as his eyes went wide."Uh, is that supposed to do that?!" Mikey hid behind Donnie, the machine sending sparks out and little flashes of blue light all over from where it had been impaled.

"No, it isn't, shell for brains! It's malfunctioning!" Donnie shouted at his younger brother. Leo and Raph stepped closer, to examine the damage. Loud noises came up from the machine, and the blue flashes became bigger, and more frequent.

"Don, please tell us this isn't going to blow up," Leo glanced nervously at his brother. The four turtles were now huddled together, fearing the worst. Suddenly, a the noise became louder and a huge blue vortex sprouted from the machine.

"Great! It's a tornado generator!" Raph yelled sarcastically.

"That's... that's not a tornado!" Donnie shouted over the noise.

"Then why is it pulling us towards it?!" Mikey was the first to notice the four of them being pulled closer to the vortex.

"Grab on to something!" Leonardo instructed his brothers, grabbing onto the couch along with Raph. Mikey and Donnie grabbed the railing of the stairs, the orange clad turtle almost being sucked into the vortex.

"How are we gonna turn it off, bro?" Mikey looked at his older brother. The teen examined the machine, but for once in his life, he had no idea.

"Honestly, I have no clue!" Donnie shook his head.

"What do you mean?! Are we just going to stay here until it sucks us in?!" Raph snapped at his brother.

"Guys, keep calm and don't " Leo was cut off, the wind of the vortex getting stronger and pulling him in. The three other turtles stared in shock as their oldest brother vanished into the swirling blue twister.

"LEO!" Raph reached out to grab his brother, but couldn't reach him in time. He turned to Donnie and Mikey, "We have to go after him!"

"It's too dangerous, Raph!" Donnie warned him. The hotheaded teen glared at his brother, shook his head and instantly jumped into the vortex himself.

"Dude, did we just watch our two older brothers get killed?!" Mikey stated with alarm.

"I don't know, Mikey, but we gotta go in!" Donnie let go of the railing and followed Raph's suit."This is gonna suck," Mikey gulped and jumped in after his brothers, screaming, "COWABUNGA!"

* * *

"What do you mean by I'm fired?!" an eighteen year old screamed at a middle aged man. The teen was about five foot three, with multicolored hair and bright green eyes. Freckles covered her face, neck and shoulders.

"Avery, you're a sweet girl and you're a hard worker, but you aren't cut out for the job of a waitress," the man stated, sounding rather insincere.

"And what makes you say that, Blaine?" Avery couldn't believe what she was hearing. Blaine had hired the girl about three years ago as a simple dish washer. One day when she was sixteen, they were short on waiters and waitresses in the restaurant, and a co-manager asked her to take some orders. Blaine came in and saw the girl was quite a natural, the customers loved her personality, and she was great with kids. Heck, she was even employee of the week three times in this past year.

"You don't have the appearance of a waitress," Blaine sounded rather harsh. Avery raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with my appearance?" the only thing different about her appearance was her hair. When she was 16, she got her hair dyed to the colors of blue, purple, orange and red. And that was before Blaine made her a waitress, and the customers didn't mind her crazy hair at all.

"Your hair. It's too wild," Blaine picked up one of her braids and let it fall back onto her shoulder.

"You're firing me because of my hair?! Dude, you hire people with visible tattoos and people who have piercings other than their ears, and you're firing ME because of my HAIR?!" Avery was outraged. He was hiding the real reason from her.

"Sorry. That's just how things are," Blaine smirked, "Now if you could change out of your uniform and hand it in along with your name tag?"

Avery stomped away into the staff room. She never knew she could get so angry so easily. A couple of her fellow employees greeted her on her way to the changing rooms. A boy about seventeen years of age noticed she wasn't exactly in the best mood and ran to catch up with her.

"Avery, what's wrong? Did Blaine put you on bathroom duty again?" the male questioned his friend. Avery rolled her eyes.

"I wish! that way I would still have a job!" Avery replied, a half hearted laugh came from her.

"Blaine fired you?! Why?!" the teen dropped the table napkins he was holding.

"He said my hair was too wild. What do you think, Travis? Is that a bunch of crap or not?" Avery kneeled down to help Travis pick up his mess.

"It is. I mean, it says in the policy as long as you're willing to work, it doesn't matter what you look like!" Travis nodded in agreement.

"I know. But you know, Blaine's a jerk and is really cheap. We barely get minimum wage here. I was thinking about quitting anyways…" Avery looked down.

"Don't be upset. Harley and I will help you find a job!" Travis grinned. "Anyways, I have to get back to work. I'll call you later!"

"See ya around, Travis," Avery got up and headed to the dressing room. It wasn't long before she was back in her regular clothes- a casual green dress that went down to about mid thigh, blue tights and black ankle boots. She turned in everything to the co manager, Alyssa, and made her way out, into the streets of Manhattan.

"Maybe I can apply for the job at the pizza parlor… Or I could do art commissions online…" Avery mumbled to herself as she made then ten minute journey home. Little did she know that someone was watching her…

* * *

There was flashes of light, loud whooshing sounds, and the sensation of his head spinning around as Michelangelo jumped into the vortex. He heard the screams of his brothers as he seemed to be falling through the nothingness, pain starting to overtake his body.

_"What the shell is going on?!"_ Mikey thought to himself. He could barely move, and the pain only grew worse, his bones and muscles seemed to be on fire and screaming wasn't going to help. Was he dying? Were his brothers going through the same torture? Who knew. It was then he felt his face and body connect with concrete.

"Ow… Man, did anyone else have to go through that?" Raph's voice spoke up.

"The searing pain? The feeling of throwing up?" Donnie responded.

"Yeah, that… Leo, are you there?" Raph called out the oldest."I'm alive. Mikey, what about you?" Leo answered, assuring his brothers he was alive and well.

"I can't move my face…" Mikey grumbled. This earned a weak laugh from Raphael. Mikey decided it would probably be best to push himself up into a sitting position. However, blonde hair was the first thing to greet him, then two pale, human arms.

"Uh, Donnie?" Mikey called out to the brains of the bunch.

"Yes?" Mikey turned and saw a teenage, human boy staring at him with big brown eyes. He had a purple mask around his face, and darker brown hair thrown back into a ponytail. Mikey let out a scream of terror.

"Mikey, what's wrong?!" Leo pushed himself up and paused. He was greeted to a blonde haired boy, with the same big blue eyes as Mikey and freckles covered his face.

"What the shell happened to all of you?!" Raph was standing staring at his brothers, his jaw agape. He too, had gone through the drastic change. He now sported slightly spikey and unnaturally red hair and the same golden eyes.

"What happened to us, what happened to you?!" Leo stood up, returning the look. He now had light brown hair. His greyish blue eyes looked over each of his brothers. They all had been turned into humans.

"DUDE YOUR MACHINE TURNED US INTO HUMANS!" Mikey screamed, looking for Leo and Raph. A look of realization came across Donnie's face as he stood up with his other two brothers.

"And it must have been a portal too…" Donnie stepped out of the alley way they were all in.

"Did it just transport us out of the lair, or to a different dimension?" Leo looked at the streets of Manhattan. They've been topside thousands of times and they knew what it looked like, but this was different.

"I can't tell," Donnie turned to face his brothers, "But we need to figure something out, and quick!"

"Who's gonna help us though?" Mikey asked. The former ninja turtles examined the surrounding area, looking for anyone who could assist them.

"How about her?" Raph pointed out a girl of about eighteen with multicolored hair, green eyes, and a face covered with freckles.

"Sure, let's go walking across the street with our ninja weapons in plain sight," Donnie replied sarcastically. They were still dressed in their ninja garb; masks, elbow and knee pads, andweapons. They all wore the same green muscle shirt, darker green combat pants and black boots.

"Or, we use stealth tactics to get to her?" Leo raised an eyebrow at his brother.

"Oh, yeah, that would work," Donnie chuckled nervously. The four ninjas quickly climbed up a ladder to the roof in order to track down the girl.

* * *

Avery was walking, minding her own business and talking on the phone to her friend, Harley.

"Doesn't it suck?! I mean, I'm kinda glad I'm not working there anymore, but I don't have a job!" Avery ranted into the phone.

"I'm sure you'll find something, Ave. You're a hard worker and anyone who refuses to hire you is missing out!" came the voice from the other line. Avery smiled slightly.

"Thanks, Harley. Anyways, I was thinking about- AH!" Avery let out a shriek as someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into the alley way.

"Avery? AVERY?!" Harley screamed from the other line. Avery dropped her phone as she was pulled from the main sidewalk. Four teenage boys who

couldn't have been much older than her surrounded her, and a feeling of dread filled up inside of her.

"L look… I don't have any money or anything of interest! I just got fired from my job and I'm on my way home " Avery started rambling, but was cut off by the teen with light brown hair and greyish blue eyes.

"Whoa, we're not gonna rob you or hurt you in any way. We just need some help," the male spoke up softly, holding up his hands. Avery stared at him wearily, backing up.

"We kinda had this incident… and well… Donnie, you explain it to her," a blonde teen with bright blue eyes started, but turned the spotlight to a teen with long dark brown hair and big brown eyes. He grinned sheepishly at Avery and cleared his throat.

"Well, we used to be, as strange as this sounds, turtles. We lived in the sewers training to be ninjas under our sensei who was a rat " the brunette was cut short by Avery.

"Are you freaking serious?" the girl raised an eyebrow, "You seriously think you guys can get away with this?""Uh, get away with what exactly?" the teen with red spikey hair gave Avery a skeptical look.

"You guys just literally explained the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," Avery crossed her arms.

"Wait, what?" the four teens looked at each other, confused.

"Heck, you guys are even cosplaying as human versions of them!" Avery gestured to their outfits. The four boys stood in silence staring at the girl.

"Who are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?" the blonde boy was the first to speak up.

"You're kidding me,"

"No, not really…" the brunette shook his head.

"Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo? You've never heard of them?" Avery was just as confused. The four boys never heard of the Ninja Turtles, yet they had a spot on cosplay, complete with masks.

"Uh, because that's us. Those are our names. I'm Raphael," the redhead pointed to himself.

"I'm Michelangelo," the blonde raised his hand

"I'm Leonardo," the teen with the light brown hair nodded.

"And I'm Donatello," the brunette gave the same sheepish smile.

"Those are seriously your names?" Avery pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Yes. We don't know how you know about us, but we need to get back home " the one who claimed her was Leonardo began.

"Wait Where are we?" Raphael cut off his brother.

"Manhattan, New York? Seriously what is wrong with you guys?" Avery frowned at the four.

"This isn't our Manhattan guys… We must have been transported to a different dimension or something," a look of realization came across Donatello's face.

"Dude, this is insane!" Michelangelo cried. He grabbed Avery's shoulders and started to scream, "How do you know who we are? Is this like some strange messed up future where we get discovered or something?!"

"Mikey, calm down!" Leo pulled Mikey away from Avery, who shrieked when he grabbed her, "Sorry, he gets excited easily. Anyways, I know this is a lot to take in and you most likely don't believe us "

"I don't," Avery stated flatly.

"Okay, so you don't. But in short, we got transported here in a freak accident, turned into humans, and have no where to go. So if we could just stick with you for a while, that would be great!" Leo placed a hand on Avery's shoulder, who shrugged it off.

"No way! You guys are crazy!" Avery pulled away from the teens and turned to take off.

"Listen, we know we may seem crazy, but we need someone's help. We're far from home and we need someplace to stay, even if it's only for this night, until we can figure out how to get back to our world," Raph stopped her. Avery glanced over each of the boys and sighed.

"Fine… But the minute you try to pull anything on me, I'm calling the cops!" Avery warned.

"We promise not to bring harm of any sort to you. Thank you for your hospitality," Leo bowed his head.

"Thanks, dude! And we promise not to be any trouble!" Mikey grinned and threw his arms around her.

"Don't mention it… and get off of me!" Avery pushed the blonde away. She bent down and picked up her phone, and was greeted to a good number of texts from Harley and Travis.

"I don't think we ever got your name," Donnie walked up beside the teen. Avery ignored the strange stares from the people they passed and smiled slightly.

"Avery. And, are your names seriously "

"Yep! Still don't know how you know about us " Mikey threw his arms around Avery and Donnie.

"Give it a rest, Mikey!" Donnie glared at his little brother.

"Sorry bro!" Mikey backed up.

"What did I get myself into?" Avery shook her head, still feeling conflicted about bringing in thefour strangers.

Maybe she would call someone in the morning to help them out, but for now, she just wanted to get home and eat some pizza.


End file.
